The David Brown Cropmaster tractor wasn't in working order, but that didn't stop 13-year-old Bill Webb from doing a deal with its owner.

Gumboot isn't Bill's first tractor, but it's virtually identical to the David Brown Cropmaster he bought as a 13-year-old. Today, he drives a 300 hp John Deere.

He agreed to build a trailer as payment for the old tractor, which had to be towed to the workshop on his parent's Oropi farm – and so began the first steps towards owning and operating a major Bay of Plenty contracting company.

Bill's mum Patricia and dad Eric Wilkinson-Webb didn't think it was strange their teenage son should take on two rather demanding projects – building a trailer and restoring a tractor. After all, Patricia had been an aircraft mechanic during the war and Eric had a long history of inventing.

'He built one of the first ever pop-top caravans to tow through the Nullarbor Plains in Australia; and if he wanted something, he invariably built, rather than bought it,” recalls Bill.

Bill got the David Brown going, restored an old International B45 PTO-driven bailer and began making hay on his parent's 50 acre block.

Contracting
'Most contractors weren't interested in making hay on small blocks, so it wasn't long before neighbours began asking me to make their hay too.”

Bill reckons the David Brown Cropmaster was ahead of its time, as it had an independent power take off which meant the tractor didn't have to be moving to drive equipment such as a bailer. 'You could get the bailer up to speed before you drove forward and began making hay, which was a huge advantage.”

Bill attended Tauranga Boys' College, where he excelled at engineering.

'All I really wanted to do was drive tractors and I couldn't wait to leave school. Until I did, all my summer holidays were planned around haymaking on contract. I did it all myself, first cutting the hay then using a converted horse-drawn rake to rake and windrow it, and then baling it. I would only cut as much grass as I could handle at one time.”

He was paid less than $1 a bale – but $1 went quite a long way back then. Bill had earlier added to his savings by mowing lawns, collecting eggs and shoveling manure at a poultry farm.

He left school at 16 and helped out on a dairy farm, filling in for a worker who had fractured his leg, but contracting and driving tractors was what he wanted to do. Bill bought and repaired more tractors and machinery as his work load grew. By 1985-1986, he employed another driver and took on more work including hedge cutting, silage making and tree felling to ensure there was enough work to cover costs.

Go for broke
'Much of the equipment and machinery was old, and repairs and maintenance were costing time and money. There was a risk of me getting a reputation for being unreliable; so in 1992 I bit the bullet and decided to go for broke, trading in five tractors and buying four new ones and a new round bailer. Even at interest rates of 20 to 21 per cent the efficiencies I gained were worth it.”

His contracting business grew as many farmers saw the efficiencies to be gained from using contractors, rather than having capital tied up in expensive machinery which didn't get a lot of use. Bill was among the first contractors to promote and carry out pasture renovation and cropping with maize, providing the equipment and expertise to do the work.

Bill moved the depot to accommodate other machinery and equipment to Maleme
St in Tauranga in 1986.

Land use
However, land use was changing around Oropi and Tauranga. Larger farms had been subdivided into lifestyle blocks and these were in turn subdivided for housing. 'The bigger dairy farms were now all out Te Puke way, so we started looking for a depot there.”

In 1987 a contracting business and yard at Paengaroa was bought and Bill Webb Contracting operated from two sites for a while.

In the mid-1990s he bought what was a market garden and glasshouse property on the corner of Wilson Rd North at Paengaroa.

'We used the half-round barn, which had been the produce shop, as an office at first; but in 2005 built a new office block and covered depot.”

Having his valuable tractors and machinery under cover made a huge difference to their performance and maintenance, Bill says.

In 2010 Bill Webb Contracting changed its name to Bill Webb Feed Solutions and the business began concentrating on growing and supplying the best quality maize silage, grass silage, rye clover hay, pea-vine hay, lucerne, barley straw, threshed rye grass and wheat straw in either round or square bales.

'Now I've come almost full circle. I hardly ever drove tractors when we were contracting and spent most of my time at a desk. Now I'm back driving a tractor again, only this time it's a 300 hp John Deere, not a 30 hp David Brown.”

However, stabled next to the huge hi-tech John Deere, with its enclosed, air-conditioned cab, is a David Brown Cropmaster tractor called Gumboots.

'I bought Gumboots from a vintage tractor enthusiast and it's virtually identical to my first tractor, which I sold more than 40 years ago to a farmer at Pahoia.

If you still have your first tractor, or photos of it, we'd love to hear from you. Send your photos, along with a story of the machine and what it meant to you, to: [email protected] with the subject line: First Tractor. Or post to: First Tractor, Coast & Country, PO Box 240, Tauranga 3110.